Exploring English Skill Problems of Engineering Students for Evaluating Their Needs

Abstract

Despite the existence of many studies on English skills in the classroom context, little scholarly work reports English skill problems for engineering students. To fill this gap,  this current study explores English skill problems of engineering students for evaluating their needs. This study was conducted at a national institute of technology in India. The data were collected through administering questionnaires. The study indicates that the engineering students feel the most difficulty in making presentations individually (speaking). They also have difficulty in listening, especially in understanding lectures. Further, the obstacle in writing reveals that the engineering students more frequently encountered difficulty in transferring information from visual to verbal and using correct punctuation during the writing activity. It is surprising in reading skill that the students do not encounter a big problem in reading. Moreover, they state that reading is very important to success in their courses of study. The findings suggest that although reading is keeping to be taught extensively, the lecturer should foster students more in listening, speaking, and writing skills in the teaching learning process.